Mother of black woman judge sues over claims she physically abused her daughter

She can usually be found prosecuting, or even presiding over, criminal cases.

But the tables were turned on high-flying barrister Constance Briscoe as she was sued by her mother over claims she was abused as a child.

Miss Briscoe, one of the first black women to sit as a judge in Britain, made the allegations in her 'misery memoir' entitled Ugly, which became a hit after it was published two years ago.

Judge Constance Briscoe (above right at the High Court) is being sued by her mother, Carmen Briscoe-Mitchell (left) over child abuse allegations made in her 'misery memoir' entitled Ugly

However, her story is hotly disputed by 75-year-old Carmen Briscoe-Mitchell, who says the incidents she wrote about never happened.

Yesterday, the mother of 11 launched a libel claim against her daughter and the book's publishers Hodder and Stoughton, at London's High Court.

Opening the case, William Panton told a jury the book contained 'serious allegations of criminal acts, assault, abuse and neglect'.

'The claimant seeks damages for libel in relation to the contents, especially the parts of the book you have in front of you which she says are libellous,' he said.

'It is not a suggestion that they are an exaggeration of facts or incidents that happened during Miss Briscoe's childhood.

'The claimant's case will be that these incidents did not happen and they are fiction.'

Controversy: Constance Briscoe's 'misery memoir' Ugly

In the book, Miss Briscoe, 51, claimed her Jamaican mother beat and kicked her, spat on her and deprived her of food.

She describes how, for much of her childhood in South London, she would lay awake in bed waiting for the creak on the stairs that warned her mother was coming to beat her with a stick.

Yesterday, Mr Panton said Miss Briscoe also wrote that she was abused by her stepfather and that she took her grievance to a local magistrates' court aged 12 where she succeeded in having him bound over.

She also wrote about going to see a doctor after her mother 'pinched and punched' her breasts.

Mother and daughter apparently made no eye contact during the hearing. Miss Briscoe sat at the front of the court taking notes with members of her legal team.

Mrs Briscoe-Mitchell, from Walworth, South-East London, sat at the back.

The jury was asked to go away and read key passages of Miss Briscoe's autobiography. Its title refers to her claim that her mother would tell her she was ugly.

Referring to passages where she writes about her experiences as a 12-year-old, Mr Panton said: 'You will have to decide whether the quotation of direct dialogue between the defendant and the adults in the book are real.

'You will have to decide whether someone can remember that far back and you will have to decide at the end of the day whether things Miss Briscoe says are a piece of fiction.'

He said it would be up to the defendants, who deny libel, to satisfy the court that the allegations were true by providing 'cogent' evidence.